Glory O'Brien's History of the Future

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The main character, Glory O'Brien, is graduating high school and she has no idea what to do with her life. Also, she does not understand why her mom committed suicide and she wonders if she will turn out like her mom. Glory solves her problem by using the ability given to her by drinking the bat to discover things, not only about the future, but how she connects to the future. She uses this information to see that her fears are false and that she has an amazing future ahead. This information also helps guide her toward helping her dad out of his depression and finding her true love. At the end of the story Glory and her father have reclaimed their land from the commune that had been living there rent free. Her father has broken out of his depression and is ready to return to painting. Glory is now rid of the Petrified Bat visions, she has met her true love, and has come to terms with her mother's suicide. 

I think that this would be a good book for either upper middle or high school students. This character is going through a lot of the same issues that students in middle and high school will be going through, or may be currently going through. Students who like realistic fiction and fantasy will like this book, because the book mainly has the feel of realistic fiction, however, there is the portion where she has visions of the future after drinking petrified bat. 

When reading the section about Science Fiction and Fantasy I really liked the part that said "Fantasy and Science Fiction offer readers a unique perspective on the times in which they live" (p. 79-80). In Glory O'Brien's History of the Future students will see a unique perspective on a girl coming to terms with her mother's suicide, deciding what to do after high school, and dealing with a father's depression, by seeing her deal with these things through using futuristic visions given to her by drinking liquified bat remains.

Citation

King, A. S. (2014). Glory O'brien's history of the future. New York, NY: Little, Brown.